NAME Mrs. Duke:
SCHOOL St. Joseph - Pinole:
CLASS Resource Tutoring:
SCHOOL PHONE 510 724-0242:
General Information
Mrs. Jill Duke — Resource
I am Mrs. Jill Duke, Resource Teacher at St. Joseph School. I welcome your questions, comments and
concerns.
Contact Me
I may be contacted by e-mail at: jduke@csdo.org or through the main school number, ext. 115. I
have taught in the Oakland Diocese for fifteen years, two years at St. Isidore and six years at Holy
Rosary. I look forward to my eighth year at St. Joseph’s.
As the resource teacher, I work with small groups of students (grades K - 5) with reading, Language
Arts and math. The "Wilson Reading Program" is the remedial reading program that I use in grades 1
- 5. It has a strong emphasis on phonemic awareness. Tutoring in grades 3, 4 and 5 also focuses on
grammar and writing skills.
Part of my job also includes facilitating SST (Student study team) meetings. These meetings include
parents and those who work with the students. It is a time to look at the student’s strengths as well
as any areas of concern. The goal of these meetings is to brainstorm ideas to help the student to be
more successful. As a result, I also coordinate suggestions; plans and/or services needed to facilitate
student success.
Hopefully, as time goes on, I will gather more information about different learning styles and
services available in the community so as to be more "resourceful" for teachers and parents.
We are all learning so much about learning challenges every day.
As part of this web site, I will be listing some services and articles that I have found interesting.
There are many, many reasons why a child might have difficulty in a subject. And, there are many
kinds of learning challenges that might interfere with classroom learning.
Dyslexia is only one of a number of learning challenges. "Research has shown that children with
dyslexia are not unusually prone to reversing letters or words and that the cognitive deficit
responsible for the disorder is related to the language system. In particular, dyslexia reflects a
deficiency in the processing of the distinctive linguistic units, called phonemes, (a phoneme is
defined as the smallest meaningful segment of language) that make up all spoken and written words.
Before words can be identified, understood, stored in memory or retrieved from it, they must first be
broken down, into their phonetic unit."("Dyslexia" by Sally Shaywitz Scientific American Nov. 1996
p.98-103)
"Dyslexia is a neurological-based, often familial, disorder, which interferes with the acquisition and
processing of language. Varying in degrees of severity, it is manifested by difficulties in receptive
and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling,
handwriting, and sometimes math. " (Wilson Reading Program)
Children can also have challenges with perceptual motor skills. U.C. Berkeley has a wonderful clinic
that does evaluations in this area. (642-2020)
Central Auditory Processing is yet another area of challenge for some students. The term "hearing"
generally refers to the operation of the parts of the ear which carries auditory information to the
brain. The use we make of this auditory signal is what is called central auditory processing (CAP).
Children with central auditory processing deficits typically have normal hearing sensitivity, but
experience difficulty analyzing or making sense of what they hear. (Parent Journal, Spring, 1995)
Some interesting places to research for more info:
1. Schwab Foundation for Learning, San Mateo (650) 655-2410 is a wonderful center with a lending
library and consultants available to work with parents.
www.SchwabLearning.org
2. www.LDONLINE.ORG for information about many learning differences
3. The International Dyslexia Assoc. Atherton, CA (650) 328-7667 Call to get their newsletters They
sponsor wonderful lectures throughout the year
http://www.dyslexia-ncbida.org/
4. Ability Resource Center, Shattuck Ave., Berkeley (510) 595-5548
Great facilitators who run after school support groups for teens and pre-teens with learning
differences.
http://www.abilityrc.com/home.php